Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-06-22

| Ir;tO q nanSOm, ana Qr1ve ratru, =.
the street. Just as the cab drove off he
also noticed tremendous shouting and
bell ringing, and, in company with the
other employees of the house, ran up to the
corridor on the third story, where he met
the jeweler, the porter and the manager
rushing out Of Mr.. A. IS sitting room as if
they had seen ghost
Before many hours the jeweler was
closeted with one Of the confidential in
| quiry agents, who have frequently been
described as s'crooks' agents." and few
| days later he recovered the stones by pay
ing the broker $4,000. If he had gone to
| the police instead of the broker he would
probably have never succeeded in bringing
the artists to justice and certainly would
have lost the stones altogether The po-
lice have never heard anything about the
| operation. The manager had excellent
reasons for not advertising his own blum
| der in having been hoodwinked, and, as
| the jeweler had compounded a felony, he
| certainly wanted to keep his mouth shut.
The Americans were, it need hardly be
said, first class artists. They had perhaps
in all invested ESQ in the job, although
when their trunks came to be examined
they were found to contain an amazing
number OF newspapers, which, with all
the respect in the world for the periodical
press, can hardly be regarded as valuable
assets. The English bank notes locked
in the safe, with the exception of one at
the top Of the roll, were like the old Bank
OF Elegance notes; they were some of q
quantity of advertisements having the
general appearance Of bank notes which a
theatrical manager in Liverpool was in
discreet enough to distribute through the
streets of that city not long ago, and
which were seized by the police as soon as
they were called to their attention, but
good many of which had found their
way to London in the mean time. The
manager had, of course not scrutiniZed
the notes, as he merely saw Mr.. A pct
them in an envelope and write his name
on it.
This is O story from the outside. Now
let us look at it from the inside. A few
days before the robbery Mr.. AS friend
had bought for him curious antique
table, which Mr.. A intended to take to
America with them, and which, for the
time being, he had in his sitting room,
covered with a cloth TO prevent its being
scratched.
1t was on this table that the diamonds
had been laid, and, rs a matter of fact,
this table was the devil that few away
with them. 1t had been made, or rather
remade, from curious piece Of old furni-
ture by a. manufacturer of stage conf u
rer's appliances in Paris. 1t was small,
round topped table, and from the top it
sloped in and then spread out again to-
ward the floor, something like the trunk
of tree or an hour glass without its
waist being pinched in very tightly. The
top Of the table was inlaid, the pattern
consisting of a number of pie shaped
pieces and radiating from an enameled
medallion in the middle. From the top
to the floor the table was hollow, when
the fat piece at the bottom Of it was uIs.
screwed and lead weight which made it
as heavy as O solid table was removed.
Through this hollow there ran a stout
; piece of heavy fish line, fastened to the
under side of the medallion in the top Of
the table
Before the jewelers. visit this medallion
had been replaced by a wooden plug, in
which was set little iron ring. On the
under side Of the cloth piece of stout
dogskin Was securely glued and the ring
sewn to this. When the cord was sharply
jerked the top Of the table collapsed to-
ward the middle, the pie shaped pieces
being hinged at the outside and arranged
SO that their points would drop in when
the cord pulled down the plug. There
fore, when the cord was pulled the cloth
would be drawn down into the hollow
part of the table, wrapping in itself what
ever had been lying ON it when the cord
was pulled.
The t.. 0 crooks had quietly cut q hole
through the floor of Mr.. AS sitting room
and the ceiling in the room below as soon
as the two sitting rooms had been cleaned |
up by the hotel servants that morning.
In Mr.. AS room the hole was Of course |
concealed by the table, but the room be-
low had to be kept locked and unentered |
during the morning.
This the partner had easily arranged by |
saying that he was writing letters and did |
not wish to be interrupted. When Mr.. A |
went into his bedroom from the sitting |
room he went out of the bedroom door to |
the corridor and down stairs to his part |
ner'S room. His partner was in readiness, |
and when he knew it was time to act he |
stood on chair under the hole and held |
his overcoat ready to catch the tablecloth |
and the stones. Mr.. A stood with the |
cord in his left hand and an open knife in |
his right. He ierked the cord. His part
ner'S ulster received what it was waiting |
for, and he quickly cut the cord close up |
to the cloth
The ulster was hastily doubled over its
contents, and with it on the partners arm
they walked quickly down the stairs and |
were in the hanson before the people up |
stairs realized that the stones were gone;
and even when they saw that the top Of
the table seemed to have fallen in it took
them q moment to discover that it was
not in that room that they must look for
the vanished diamonds. The two artists
must have got fully five minutes start,
and three minutes was all they needed to
be lost.-London Cor. San Francisco
Chronicle.